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Republican Senate candidate Fiorina issues provocative Web attack ad

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U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina's campaign has produced a provocative new Web attack ad aimed at Republican primary opponent Tom Campbell. The ad accuses Tom Campbell of being a "Fiscal Conservative In Name Only" and depicts Campbell as a sheep with glowing red eyes, a spin on the classic wolf in sheep's clothing analogy.

At three and a half minutes long, we're not going to see anything like this on television, though it's possible Fiorina could produce a condensed version for television. However, it's already been much talked about in the blogosphere, on Twitter, and elsewhere (I found out about it when I saw it in a list of "Hot Trends" on the Huffington Post).

Jonathan Chait of the New Republic raises a good point: It's a somewhat awkward analogy to have sheep as the good guys, particularly when you're voting for a leadership position.

GOP strategist Patrick Ruffini heavily criticized the ad on Twitter, poking fun by changing his Twitter picture to that of the glowing red-eyed sheep from the ad, though he's been highly critical of Fiorina before.

Campbell responded in an e-mail to supporters, saying "Carly's ad likens fiscal conservatives to sheep, and Tom to a demon sheep, without mentioning a single federal issue or proposing a single solution to America's economic woes."

Fiorina's campaign defended the ad in a Politico article, telling Politico that it was intentionally "shocking" and "edgy" so that people would talk about it. (Both Politico's article and ours: Proof that this strategy is working.)

Previously in Without A Net

Looking below the radar of pop culture in L.A. and beyond. We bring you what's next, what's trending, what people are talking about and more. Follow lead Without A Net blogger Mike Roe at @MikeRoe on Twitter.